SURFY: A Low Weight Surfaces Climbing Robot (Design, Control, Assembly and Preliminary Tests)

Climbing and Walking Robots can be used to resolve some problems of maintenance, inspection and safety in industry. The first prototypes already developed have proved able to perform tasks in hostile environments and serve as a work platform for manipulators in inaccessible. areas. The inspection of storage tanks is a task that has been standardised by the American Petroleum Institute, with the API Standard 653. This paper describes the design and the construction of a prototype climbing robot and reports the results of various motion trials performed on walls of different inclinations and of different materials to verify the correct functioning of the movement and of the adhesion system